Contract and Quiz

Throughout the process I had delved into helping the fundraising aspect. Originally before finding out whether we would have a budget I had already done some research into Arts Council England to see whether we as a company would be able to put an application in, unfortunately the applications had been closed but it did give me an insight on how to do an application and certainly helped for future references. Bleeding Edge Theatre Company had an idea to create something that was fun and could get people involved into our piece. We wanted something that could help make us more money for budgeting and something that relieved the stress of rehearsals for a few days. As well as being a full-time University student I also work full-time, luckily my work schedule has fit around my rehearsal schedule. Myself and Lydia, the producer for Bleeding Edge Theatre Company took the opportunity to pitch an idea to the Sales and Marketing Manager at Walkabout to help us come up with an idea for fundraising. At first they suggested going into any surrounding shops and asking them if there were any ‘freebies’ they could give away and as a way to thank them we would repay them by thanking them on social media, bringing customers to them and therefore profit, and so on more than one occasion Lydia would email these shops and go in as well to find someone that would be of great help. At the next interview Lydia and I organised, I came up with an idea of hosting a quiz at Walkabout as the Sunday quiz Walkabout holds tend to be extremely successful. The original retail price of hiring out the upstairs venue on a quiet night would be around £200, now obviously we did not have this money going spare and I wondered if by working at Walkabout I would get it for In-Kind support. Walkabout agreed and we had ourselves a space, the next major issue we encountered with this is the type of quiz we would do and whether we would have time to make up all the questions and do the quiz as a whole. I sat down for an interview with Jay Dawson, the manager of Walkabout, Hollie Avent, the Sales and Marketing Manager and Richard Brown, the host and resident DJ at Walkabout who holds the quiz. During this lengthy two-hour interview there were compromises that needed to be made to ensure that Bleeding Edge Theatre Company had everything sorted for their Quiz Night. A contract was made as seen below:

In this contract, as clearly shown, included the venue hire with access to a projector, the use of a quiz that had been used six months prior, a bar tab for the winning team and free drinks for participators and winners of the raffle. This also included the renaming of two cocktails which we gladly chose to rename INKA and Bleeding Edge to give an authenticity to our piece. However, the compromise that we agreed upon was something that did not directly affect the company but only me, I would have to agree upon working forty-hours of free overtime to cover the costs of everything. Although this was agreed upon then and there, my boss Jay Dawson discussed with me privately that any overtime I had already worked would automatically be taken of that contract, therefore I only had to do three or four hours of free overtime, something of which I’m used to doing anyway. The contract was made without the need for the producer as I felt that as only I worked for Walkabout, having only me there would ensure that we got the best deal and nobody would be uncomfortable saying and asking for certain things. The majority of my time and worry was spent on ensuring that we got everything needed and after this was sorted I moved onto the production element.